The present invention relates to a compact cartridge coupling.
Quick couplings according to ISO Standard 7241 are now consolidated on the international market, especially concerning the agricultural/forestry field. ISO standards regulate the sizes of the couplings in order to ensure the interchangeability of different manufacturers, the ability to be coupled and various minimum use requirements, such as pressure, capacity and so on.
Among the quick couplings according to the standard above, cartridge couplings are characterized by a compact design while maintaining the same functional principles of ISO Standard 7241.
In particular, cartridge couplings are inserted into a housing commonly made of cast iron in order to make the cartridge coupling employable with increased effectiveness where the operating conditions provide for high operating pressures, in particular also with sudden variations of the flow direction and particularly high pressure impulse frequencies.
Moreover, cartridge couplings are generally employed by positioning them inside the housings made of cast iron, for example, when the conditions of use provide for the presence of earth, mud and debris, such as precisely occurs in the case of uses in the agricultural and forestry field.
Therefore, one of the main drawbacks of the cartridge couplings known from the state of the art consists of the non-optimal reliability, with particular reference to the resistance and duration of the components and of the coupling as a whole, as well as to the need to act on a lever to activate internal mechanisms to implement the decompression and to facilitate the connection/disconnection.
Moreover, an improvable aspect of the cartridge couplings known from the state of the art consists in the overall volumes.
Therefore, it is the primary task of the present invention to suppress or reduce the above-mentioned drawbacks.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention within the scope of this task to provide a quick cartridge coupling which is characterized by an overall reduced volume, so as to be arranged in narrow spaces, by mainly eliminating the volume of the decompression lever.
It is also a further object of the present invention to provide a quick cartridge coupling equipped with a decompression system which permits to moderate the pressure inside the system, thus reducing the coupling and uncoupling loads.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a quick cartridge coupling equipped with a hydrostatically-balanced decompression system which allows the fluid, typically oil, to be decompressed both in the step of coupling and in the step of uncoupling by simply acting on the coupling without the aid of a lever.
Not last, it is an object of the present invention to provide a quick cartridge coupling which allows the male to be uncoupled thus leaving the latter under pressure after the disconnection.
This task and these and other objects which will become more apparent hereinafter are achieved by a cartridge coupling to connect a pressurized fluid line between a vehicle or apparatus and a user, comprising an external housing within which a female semi-coupling is inserted comprising a front valve assembly and adapted to receive a male semi-coupling, said housing comprising at least one recovery channel for the clean oil and one draining channel for the dirty oil, characterized in that it further comprises decompression means, on said female semi-coupling, to moderate the pressure inside the line thus facilitating the operations of coupling and uncoupling the male semi-coupling to/from said female semi-coupling.
The cartridge coupling according to the present invention is also characterized in that said decompression means comprise a hydrostatically-balanced decompression valve.
Again, the cartridge coupling according to the present invention is characterized in that it further comprises hydraulic blocking means adapted to prevent the front valve assembly from closing when the male coupling is inserted and regardless of the flow direction and pressure in the line, and adapted to allow the overtravel of said valve assembly required for the complete insertion of the male semi-coupling.